Humans
UK/US TV series starting in 2015, set in the near future (or in a parallel universe) where humaniform robots have become commonplace - working as housekeepers, gardeners, shop assistants, you name it - and the expected social quandries arise as a result, besides its central plot. Season 1, first watch (3rd-13th August 2015) Format With Mum Journal Watched the first episode with Mum after she kept hearing good things about it from her friends and colleagues. A few weeks before, I'd said I didn't want to watch it because I mistook it for Almost Human - a TV series from the year before with a similar setting that I'd tried and given up on after less than a full episode. Episode 1: Watched the first episode on the 3rd. I thought it seemed very promising. Lots of brain food. 2. Episode 2: Watched the second episode on the 4th. Veeery interesting. So much to think about. Teases my brain in just the right way. Plus it has brilliant acting and, so far, a somewhat intriguing story. 2. Episode 3: 7th August. Mostly a miss this one, unfortunately. Got a bit better at the end but my increasing excitement has been reminded that most series aren't very good. 0. Episode 4: 8th August. Eh. Some good bits. Some not. Setting is super interesting and is given enough detail and different situations to really make my brain tingle, but the story seems like it's going to be a bit naff. 0. Episode 5: 11th August. 1. Episode 6: 12th August. 2. Episodes 7 and 8: 13th August. 1/2. Overall I'd give it a 2, for definite. It was really fun to watch and had lots of brainfood lying around, and the acting was generally good to great. It wasn't perfect, from my perspective, but far and away beyond what I'd expect from a mainstream TV series for this genre. Looking forward to seeing where it goes! Season 1, second watch (Early January 2016) Format On my own at home (in Japan) Journal The soundtrack was released so I listened to the Anita/Mia track a few times and really loved it, so I fired up the first episode again to see if it had as good an atmosphere as I remembered, and it did. It was the Christmas/New Year break and within a few days I'd watched all 8 episodes. It had its weaknesses, and two or three episodes in I was wondering which way it was going to go (cringe/awesome), but overall it was really really good again. I love the atmosphere, the characters, the stories, the setting; there's so much to enjoy. I do really hate the way they delivered the 'there's a secret program in your heads and we need everyone' plot. It's a fine idea, but the delivery is just really off - Leo just jumps to the conclusion and keeps asserting it with no evidence, and everyone keeps getting instantly "TELL ME WHAT IT IS". Like, clearly the writers knew this was important but the characters needed a bit more reason to. Rating 2 Season 2, first watch (November-December 2016) Format At home on my own (in Japan) Journal Episode 1: After skimming through season 1 again and reminding myself of its dodgy central plot and occasional sketchy acting (despite being amazing overall) I went into this episode expecting it to be cringy or dissatisfying to some degree, hoping it would have something special to it like the first season but resigned to the fact that it's possibly all about the 'freshness' which a second season would necessarily lack. However, it was a surprisingly good start to the season. The randomly and rarely awakening synths is a decent way to progress the setting manageably, and Carrie Anne Moss's character gives me chills. Looks like she might make an excellent addition to the series. Niska turning up at the nice family's house again with her proposal at the end was intriguing. Episode 2: Wow. I am very impressed. The characters are so varied and interesting; I love how their personalities are distinct and each one is being used to keep you thinking about the different angles and moralities. Hester the psycopath is interesting. Carrie Anne Moss is terrifying in her cold ruthlessness - she thinks of herself as a good person but she's completely blind to the ethical concerns of conscious synths - straight up murdering them for science without thinking about it. I guess she's like the inverse Hester. I wonder what her backstory (she clearly has some trauma in her past) is going to be. Mia's dilemma is on such a different scale to the 'big' problems everyone else is dealing with and yet so powerful, and she even points that out and asserts that they aren't ready to handle big problems. Her motherly nature is so well portrayed and believable. Brilliant! 2. Episode 3: Forgot to write about it at the time. It was both too slow and too quick, in that it flitted about between too many things and not much happened in any of them. Maybe 0 or 1? Episode 4: Forgot to write about it at the time. A week later, looking back at my reddit comments, I guess it was around a 1. Episode 5: HOLYYYYYY SHIT. That line from Niska. This episode was full of awesome. 3. Episode 6: Hm. Not sure how I feel about Mia's Anita episode. Seemed a bit random and she was just really rude to the family by leaving without saying sorry for randomly turning up or thanks for rescuing her. Also finding it difficult to decide if Hester's got a point or not. Like I know she's a manipulative murderer, but I keep thinking about how, to her, those actions are justified, and that like Mattie flaunting her power over her was just making it worse. Anyway, 1. Episode 7: Boooo :( Interesting conflicts and events. I was expecting Hester to just kill Athena with Karen, persuading her to or threatening Pete. It's interesting reading everyone on r/HumansTV hating on her, calling her a villain, evil, a monster, when I can't help but understand her motives and reasoning. I love how she says to Leo "I'll do what you cannot" to persuade him to keep her around (although I'm not sure why she keeps Leo around). In a way, she's right - she's trying to minimise suffering by her actions. Anyway, she's a great character. 1. Episode 8: I thought it was a really well done final episode, actually. Not that bombastic, but actually quite emotional. They managed to accurately hit so many notes and perspectives of this hypothetical scenario. I really have nothing to criticise about this season, except that it wasn't more 'exciting' and that the music was largely lame. 2 Rating 2 Season 3, first watch (June-July 2018) Format At home on my own (in Japan) Journal I skimmed through the old seasons in preparation and remembered how I loved them both, for different reasons, and I was looking forward to this season. However, I found that the dodgy writing and acting was at its dodgiest, it had no big-name actor to pull the quality up, the music was as usual since season 2 boring, and it just didn't hold together well. Maybe it was harmed by being broadcast at the same time as I was watching season 2 of Westworld. Rating 0 Category:2010s TV series Category:Science fiction TV series Category:Robot TV series Category:Artificial intelligence TV series Category:TV series watched in 2015 Category:TV series watched in 2016 Category:TV series watched in 2018 Category:TV series with 2 rating Category:TV series with 0 rating